It's official.
The Catholic Knight is retired. I'm hanging up the helmet and passing the torch. There will be no more articles, no more commentaries, no more calls to action.
THIS BLOG IS CLOSED.
I've spent a very long time thinking about this, I believe the time has come, and is a bit overdue. I want to thank my readers for everything, but most especially for your encouragement and your willingness to go out there and fight the good fight.
So, that being the case, I've spend the last several weeks looking for bloggers who are fairly active, and best represent something akin to the way I think and what I believe. I recommend the following blogs for my readers to bookmark and check on regularly. Pick one as your favourite, or pick them all. They are all great.....

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

In 1971 many leading British and international figures, among whose number were Yehudi Menuhin, Agatha Christie, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nancy Mitford, Graham Greene, Joan Sutherland, and Ralph Richardson, presented a petition to His Holiness Pope Paul VI asking for the survival of the traditional Roman Catholic Mass on the grounds that it would be a serious loss to western culture. The then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Heenan himself appealed to Pope Paul for the continued celebration of the traditional Mass. The full text of this appeal in 1971 was:

"If some senseless decree were to order the total or partial destruction of basilicas or cathedrals, then obviously it would be the educated - whatever their personal beliefs - who would rise up in horror to oppose such a possibility. Now the fact is that basilicas and cathedrals were built so as to celebrate a rite which, until a few months ago, constituted a living tradition. We are referring to the Roman Catholic Mass. Yet, according to the latest information in Rome, there is a plan to obliterate that Mass by the end of the current year. One of the axioms of contemporary publicity, religious as well as secular, is that modern man in general, and intellectuals in particular, have become intolerant of all forms of tradition and are anxious to suppress them and put something else in their place. But, like many other affirmations of our publicity machines, this axiom is false. Today, as in times gone by, educated people are in the vanguard where recognition of the value of tradition in concerned, and are the first to raise the alarm when it is threatened. We are not at this moment considering the religious or spiritual experience of millions of individuals. The rite in question, in its magnificent Latin text, has also inspired a host of priceless achievements in the arts - not only mystical works, but works by poets, philosophers, musicians, architects, painters and sculptors in all countries and epochs.

Thus, it belongs to universal culture as well as to churchmen and formal Christians. In the materialistic and technocratic civilisation that is increasingly threatening the life of mind and spirit in its original creative expression - the word - it seems particularly inhuman to deprive man of word-forms in one of their most grandiose manifestations. The signatories of this appeal, which is entirely ecumenical and non-political, have been drawn from every branch of modern culture in Europe and elsewhere. They wish to call to the attention of the Holy See, the appalling responsibility it would incur in the history of the human spirit were it to refuse to allow the Traditional Mass to survive, even though this survival took place side by side with other liturgical reforms."

This appeal in 1971 came at a crucial time in the history of civilisation when the future of the traditional Latin “Tridentine” Mass was in jeopardy. Pope Paul VI graciously acknowledged this appeal and the traditional Mass was saved, at least in England and Wales. Since this momentous appeal in 1971 the traditional Latin Mass has prospered once again among the faithful worldwide and is now celebrated in almost every country in the world. Now, in 2007, there is great hope and expectation that this treasure of civilisation will be freed from its current restrictions. We, the signatories of this petition, wish to associate ourselves to the sentiments expressed in the petition of 1971 which, perhaps, are even more valid today, and appeal to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 to allow the free celebration of the traditional Roman rite of Mass, the Mass of Ages, the Mass of Antiquity, on the altars of the Church.

Washington DC, Jan 30, 2007 / 11:46 am (CNA).- U.S. Senator Sam Brownback reintroduced the Public Expressions of Religion Act on Jan. 29. The bill would prevent activist groups from using a 1976 civil rights law to recover attorney’s fees when they sue local cities and towns in cases related to public displays of religion and faith.

“It is not fair for taxpayers to pay the legal bills for groups like the ACLU,” said Brownback. “Currently many small towns comply with the demands of the ACLU rather than risk going to trial and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to the ACLU if they lose the case.”

Currently, legal activist groups recover hundreds of thousands of dollars from state and local governments based on a provision of the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney Fees Awards Act, which was intended to assist underprivileged plaintiffs in obtaining legal representation in civil rights cases...

Monday, January 29, 2007

LONDON, January 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – British Catholics heard a flurry of naked anti-Catholic sentiments expressed last week by some government Members and Cabinet Ministers in the “row” over the government’s decision to force Churches to adopt children to homosexuals.

Anti-Catholic, anti-clerical and anti-papal slurs had been, until as recently as fifty years ago, standard fare in Britain’s political discourse where the established state Protestant religion is officially anti-Catholic, but most British people, both Catholics and Anglicans, were grateful to assign them to history’s waste bin.

“I’m not going to have some bloody reactionary German Pope dictate the law of our land,” said one minister quoted by Mary Ann Sieghart.

Sieghart writes in an Op-Ed in the Times, that another admitted, “only half-jokingly,” that his mother had always told him, “Never trust a Catholic.” A third asked, “Where’s all the child abuse and paedophilia? In the Catholic Church. They should get their own bloody house in order and sort out the way paedophilia lies hidden.”

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I've got some cold, hard and naked truth for my fellow Catholics out there. This kind of bigotry exists in the United States government too, as well as the American media. Except these days, the elitists running things know well enough to keep it under wraps. Occasionally it slips out though. Anti-Catholicism is on the decline among Protestant Fundamentalists, but among Secular Liberals (protestant or otherwise) its exploding! Shocking as it may sound, for every Anti-Catholic Fundamentalist who gives up his prejudice, there are two Secular Liberals ready to replace him.

Catholic Americans would do well to resolve themselves to the following realities...

The US and UK are Protestant nations, and they will always be anti-Catholic in nature regardless of secularizing trends. If anything, secularization will make them more anti-Catholic and not less.

Anti-Catholic bigots will always be able to obtain positions of high authority and influence in the US and UK specifically because of their anti-Catholicism, just as anti-Semites will always be able to obtain positions of high authority and influence in Arab nations specifically because of their anti-Semitism.

No amount of compromise and pandering will ever satisfy the anti-Catholic elites running the US and UK. To them, the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic -- i.e. "one who doesn't follow the faith."

No matter how many Catholics there are in the US and UK, there will always be anti-Catholic bigots (veiled or open) running things. They cannot be beaten. They can only be frustrated.

The best way to frustrate a bigot is to continue to be exactly what he hates. Catholics need to start listening to the pope, attending mass regularly, and reading the Scriptures as well as the Catechism. Nothing will drive them more crazy than that. When you drive them crazy, their hidden prejudice will start to show, and then we can at least identify them.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

DEBKA: Iran is closer than ever before to the launch of a spy satellite by a BM25 ballistic missile, 18 of which were purchased from North Korea, notwithstanding Pyongyang’s denials of aid to Iran’s nuclear program. Allaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, said last week that Iran had finished building a reconnaissance satellite and converted a ballistic missile into a space launcher. If this claim is correct, then Iran has a launcher able to put 300 kg into earth orbit - and by the same definition, an ICBM that could drop more than 300 kg anywhere in the world, including Washington DC...

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: While the American press squanders precious air time on issues like sex scandals and how much everybody hates President Bush, the biggest news story of the century slips right beneath their nose virtually unnoticed. Iran now has a missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon anywhere on the continental United States. New York City has been targeted. Washington DC has been targeted. Los Angeles has been targeted. etc. And in the not-too-distant future, the Iranian government will demonstrate this capability to the world in the form of a satellite launch.

Will the American press get it? Will they run prime-time specials pointing out the potential danger to every American citizen? My guess is probably not. Instead we can expect to see a short blurb about how the Iranians have entered the space age, and what remarkable technological progress their making despite UN sanctions over "peaceful" uranium enrichment.

Will the American Left get it? Not a chance! They'll decry any negative talk about Iran is "racist Islamophobia." Most liberal Leftists will be unable to comprehend that a satellite in orbit requires an intercontinental ballistic missile to put it there. They'll fail to see the threat, and probably utter some kind of inane comment like; "Iranians have just as much right to space travel as we do."

Will the Europeans get it? I suspect a small minority will -- those old enough to remember the threat of the Soviets during the Cold War. But I imagine their voices will not be heard over the tyranny of political correctness currently reigning on the continent via the European Union.

What of the American Right? Yes, they'll get it! But they can't do anything about it. Tail tucked between their legs; the Republicans have been sacked in the most recent midterm elections, and can barely help themselves, let alone anything else. President Bush has been virtually neutered by low opinion polls, Democratic control of Congress, and a war spinning out of control in Iraq. His recent speeches indicate he understands the danger very well, but judging by the looks of things, he won't be able to do much more than gripe about it.

So what does this mean? Are we headed for another Cold War - with Iran taking the place of the Soviet Union. Hardly. There is certainly a war on the way, but it's going to be anything but "cold." There are two things that make this nuclear arms race different. The first is ideology, and the second is sanity.

First and foremost, the Iranians have an advantage over the West ideologically. Their ideology is religious in nature, in the sense their religion teaches them not to be afraid to die. In fact, in some cases it actually encourages suicide martyrdom. What this means is simple. In an arms race with Iran, it is the United States who assumes the role of the old Soviet Union, not the nation of Iran. Why? Because throughout the original Cold War, it was the USA that was more willing to take it to the brink than the Soviet Union. Americans were willing to die for freedom, but how many Russians were willing to die for communism? In those few cases when the USA and the USSR nearly did the unthinkable, it was the USSR that backed down. The same was true with Pope John Paul II's clashes with communist Poland - pope wins, communists back down. The answer to this mystery is simple enough. Christians in the USA, and Catholics in Poland, were not afraid to die. They knew their cause was worth fighting for, and if it just happened to get them killed, they knew they had a better place to go in the afterlife. In contrast, atheistic communism offers nothing to comfort the soul when the mind contemplates its own mortality. So when death was no longer a fear for Christians under communist rule, the power of communism crumbled, because the power of communism is the fear of death. (i.e. "Submit or die!") Communists are atheists. They have no hope of the afterlife. This life is all there is, as far as their concerned. If that's what you really believe, what are you going to do when somebody threatens to end it? You'll back down of course. Since the Cold War ended, however, a lot of things have changed. The West is far less religious than it once was. Secular Humanism (an ideology just one step away from atheistic communism) now dominates western Europe. This same philosophy has now permeated every corner of North American culture as well. In addition to that, the majority of those who still do practice Western Christianity have become very decedent. Suffering and death doesn't often cross the minds of modern Christians in the West. So the West is substantially weaker than it once was when it first faced the Soviet threat of communism some 60 years ago. The new USA looks a lot more like the old USSR in "religious" ideology, when you compare it to the piety of Iranians, and Mesopotamian Muslims in general. Now it's the Iranians who aren't afraid to die, and the Americans who have everything to loose. In a real nuclear showdown between the two, it will be America that blinks not Iran.

There is however, a second problem. If the last three decades have proved anything, it is this. Radical Islam is on the rise, and radical Muslims are completely insane! Unlike the USA and old USSR, nuclear weapons in the hands of an Islamofacist are not likely to be used merely as a deterrent. On the contrary, recent history has demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt, that if you give a Muslim terrorist a bomb (any bomb) he will use it, without exception, even if its a nuclear bomb.

Will the American press, and the American Left, ever wake up to the life-threatening dangers around them? Forgive me for giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I believe they will. Just not until AFTER the mushrooms start sprouting.

He said reports that Pope Benedict will reintroduce the Tridentine Mass, which dates from 1570 and is largely conducted in Latin, were wrong – not least because of the Pope's desire to avoid more controversies. A speech last year offended Muslims and more recently he gave initial support to a Polish archbishop who was eventually forced to resign, after admitting that he had collaborated with the communist-era secret police.

"He is not going to do it," Fr Foster said. "He had trouble with Regensberg, and then trouble in Warsaw, and if he does this, all hell will break loose."

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I hope this guy is wrong. I would hate to think that "God's Rottweiler" (our beloved "German Shepherd") is nothing more than a timid lapdog. This depiction of Benedict doesn't match what I've seen so far, but who knows, everybody has their limits. Maybe this pope has reached his?

Former head of Israel's intelligence service tells Portuguese newspaper it would take at least 25 years before battle against fundamentalist terrorism is won; says nuclear strike by Muslim terrorists 'very likely'

A third World War is already underway between Islamic militancy and the West but most people do not realize it, the former head of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad said in an interview published Saturday in Portugal.

‘We are in the midst of a third World War,’ former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy told weekly newspaper Expresso...

Saturday, January 27, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC, January 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - He is seen by supporters as a man of wisdom and intelligence, not too old and not too young, with stamina and good looks and the determination it takes to become the President of the United StaSam Brownback at 2007 March for Lifetes of America. Sam Brownback and his team of youthful volunteers were all over the March for Life in Washington DC this week.

Brownback was definitely not shy about testifying to his pro-life and pro-family beliefs at the March for Life. Campaign material handed out by the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands emphasized that the senior Senator from Kansas is "proudly" and "unequivocally pro-life". He refers to Roe v Wade as a "tragedy" that must be "overturned."

Speaking of the March he told LifeSiteNews.com "This is a big cause and it's a big moment for the cause because we are just now getting across to people, the majority of people, about the pro-life message and the country is moving pro-life so we just really have to move that forward."read full story here

Washington DC, Jan 26, 2007 / 04:18 pm (CNA).- A former high-ranking officer with the KGB claims that the Kremlin and the Russian intelligence agency in the 1960s were set on executing a smear campaign against the Catholic Church, and the main target was Pope Pius XII.

In a recent issue of the National Review Online, Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa, who eventually defected from the former Soviet bloc, recounts how the KGB and the Kremlin designed the deliberate campaign to portray the Pius XII “as a coldhearted Nazi sympathizer.”

“In February 1960, Nikita Khrushchev approved a super-secret plan for destroying the Vatican’s moral authority in Western Europe,” writes Pacepa. “Eugenio Pacelli, by then Pope Pius XII, was selected as the KGB’s main target, its incarnation of evil, because he had departed this world in 1958. ‘Dead men cannot defend themselves’ was the KGB’s latest slogan.”

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

NEW OXFORD REVIEW: In our New Oxford Notes (Jan. 2003, and Nov. 2004) we noted how the "Shorter Form" in the Lectionary omits some politically incorrect sayings of the New Testament having to do with Hell and with wives being subordinate to their husbands (although they do appear in the "Longer Form").

But when it comes to homosexuality, there are passages in the Lectionary that are completely omitted (not to be found in any "Longer Form"). In the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, First Reading, Cycle C, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:20-32), the Lord says, "their sin is so grave," but we're not told what that grave sin is. The following chapter does make it explicit -- the sin of active homosexuality -- but the Lectionary omits it. In the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Abraham bargains with the Lord. Abraham says, "Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city...." The Lord replies, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake." Abraham continues to bargain, and at the end, Abraham says, "What if there are at least ten there?" The Lord replies, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it." The reading ends here on a happy note.

The Lord's raining down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah is not found in the Sunday Lectionary. Only in the Weekday Lectionary will you find it (Gen. 19:15-29), and only one percent (at a maximum) of Catholics attend weekday Masses. But again we're not told what the sin of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah is. It's made explicit in Genesis 19:4-7, the same chapter. It's the sin of active homosexuality, but the Lectionary editors chose to omit it.

With the biblical illiteracy of so many Catholics, how many will know it's the sin of active homosexuality?read full story here

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Reverend Schuller is not necessarily my idea of a good news source for Christian trends, but even I have to give credit where credit is due. On this one, Schuller hits the nail on the head...

Three generations of prominent church leader Robert H. Schuller kicked off a new conference Monday, looking at the future of faith.

The Faith Forward conference at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., and at satellite sites across the country is particularly focused on the challenges meeting the Christian faith and bridging the younger generation to the older.

"One of the attempts of Faith Forward is to build bridges between three very different kinds of Christian traditions," Robert V. "Bobby" Schuller, told the Orange County Register.

"There has been a misnomer that the younger generation is looking for what is hip and trendy and all of this stuff when it comes to spirituality."

The cohort of young adults today have grown up on cell phones, the internet and in a materialistic world where their top goals are fame and fortune, a recent Pew survey found. And more youth ministers are trying to draw more teens to the church with a message wrapped in pop culture.

Schuller says young people are looking for something "beyond the show." Vintage is the newest trend.

"They are looking for a deep and real intimate relationship and what I found is that people desire something more vintage, not something in style. Vintage is something that is older but really valuable."

In fact, they're looking for something that is even older than the older generation, Schuller says, such as going to old cathedrals for lay worshipping...

Monday, January 22, 2007

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: As I've said all along, Vatican II isn't the problem. The botched implementation of Vatican II is!

by Thomas J. Craughwell

Is Pope Benedict about to abolish Vatican II? Not quite. What he is doing, in fact, is implementing one of the council's guarantees, spelled out in its document on the Mass, Sacrosanctum Consilium, "In faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way." Of course, it didn't pan out that way. In 1969 Pope Paul VI virtually banned the traditional Mass and imposed on the Church the Novus Ordo Missae, the New Order of the Mass that has been the norm in Catholic parishes around the globe ever since.

Paul VI's Mass was no simple vernacular translation of the traditional text; this was a major edit-and-rewrite job that recast the role of the priest, the people, and even God's place in the liturgical life of the Catholic Church. It was, in short, a revolution. And as Robespierre could tell you, once a revolution gets rolling, it's hard to tell exactly where it will end up.

Once the new Mass was put in place, the progressives went on a rampage the likes of which the Church had not seen since the Reformation. On Sunday mornings, while the parish clergy hung out in the rectory, members of the laity distributed Communion to congregations who were instructed to stand, not kneel, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and urged to take the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread, in their hands rather than receive it on their tongue. Then came the church "wreckovations" -- altars were smashed, communion rails ripped out, statues hauled away to the dumpster or banished to obscure corners of the church, and elaborately decorated interiors whitewashed. The documents of Vatican II did not call for any of these soul-and-gut wrenching innovations, but when confronted the progressives claimed that their actions were in keeping with "the spirit of Vatican II."

The-not-too-subtle message of this revolution was, if the Mass, the thing the Church held most sacred, could be monkeyed with, then it was open season on doctrine, discipline, religious authority, religious vows, church music, education, sexuality, marriage, and life itself. As the Catholic Church sank into chaos, many Catholics jumped ship. A 1958 Gallup poll found that in the United States 75 percent of Catholics went to Mass every Sunday; today the number has dropped to 25 percent. By the way, on any given Sunday in France, the bishops can count on seeing about five percent of the population...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Senate is considering legislation that would regulate grassroots communications, with penalties for critics of Congress.

"In what sounds like a comedy sketch from Jon Stewart's Daily Show, but isn't, the U. S. Senate would impose criminal penalties, even jail time, on grassroots causes and citizens who criticize Congress," says Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com

Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress, as lobbyists are required.

"Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever," Viguerie said.

For the first time in history, he stated, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself....

Friday, January 12, 2007

ROME, Italy, January 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Earlier today Pope Benedict XVI met with Piero Marrazzo, president of the Region of Lazio, Italy; Walter Veltroni, mayor of the City of Rome; and Enrico Gasbarra, president of the Province of Rome, for the purpose of exchanging the traditional New Years greetings.

During the meeting Benedict addressed the topic of the family, saying that the "intrinsic value and authentic motivations" of marriage and the family, "need today to be better understood. To this end, the Church's pastoral commitment is great and must grow further.”

Along the same line the pope told his visitors that it is necessary that policies are developed that encourage healthy families and marriages.

"However," the pope added, "projects that aim to attribute to other forms of union inappropriate legal recognition appear dangerous and counterproductive.” Benedict said such unions, and the legal recognition of them, ends up "weakening and destabilizing the legitimate family based on marriage."

The Pope’s remarks were evidently aimed at the current Italian government’s push towards the legal recognition of homosexual unions, and the relationships of heterosexual cohabitating couples...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today about a judge who allowed a lawsuit against the Vatican to move forward:

“The same judge, John G. Heyburn II, who ruled on October 7, 2005 that the Holy See is a foreign state that enjoys certain immunities now says that the same lawsuit can go forward. That’s because a few technicalities that stopped him from initially dismissing the suit altogether are no longer relevant. There’s an odor to this and it stinks.

“The lawyer, William McMurry, won a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville in 2003 and managed to cream $10.3 million off the top for himself and his legal team. What motivated him to continue his pursuit was the revelation in 2003 that a 1962 Vatican document, leaked to the press, allegedly shows how the Vatican planned to cover up cases of sexual abuse. But the document, as we’ve pointed out many times before, not only does not implicate the Vatican—it proves how serious it took cases of alleged abuse. For example, it prescribed penalties for any priest who ‘whether by words or signs or nods of the head’ might convey a sexual advance in the confessional. It also prescribed penalties for the penitent if he or she didn’t report such conduct. In other words, the 1962 document is a model of excellence.

“Besides, accusing the Vatican is bogus. ‘I have reviewed thousands of pages of documents surrendered by the Archdiocese of Boston,’ said victims’ attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., ‘but haven’t seen a scintilla of evidence showing the Vatican knew what was going on.’ None of this matters to McMurry, whose anger at the Vatican involves his once being denied entrance to St. Peter’s Basilica because he was wearing shorts.

“McMurry’s clients are Michael Turner, James H. O’Bryan and Donald E. Poppe. Turner alleges that over three decades ago he was molested by a priest; last year he said he ‘thought’ the local bishop was following Vatican orders dealing with his case. O’Bryan says a priest touched him through his pants pocket in 1928, and Poppe’s alleged molester died in 1983. This is what we’ve come to—a free-for-all against the Catholic Church.”

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Chavez took the oath of office at the National Assembly after a sweeping re-election victory that has given him free reign to pursue more radical changes, including plans to nationalize power and telecommunications companies.

His right hand raised, Chavez declared: "Fatherland, socialism or death — I swear it," invoking the Cuban leader's famous call to arms.

Chavez also alluded to Jesus, saying: "I swear by Christ — the greatest socialist in history."

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I'm afraid 'The Catholic Knight' has a reality check for Mr. Chavez. Jesus Christ never TAXED a single human being. He never FORCED anyone to give away anything. Furthermore, he never COERCED a single soul into his Kingdom. You see, Mr. Chavez has the same myopic view of Christianity that nearly all social liberals have. They see the Kingdom of God as a political regime, imposed by force upon all, regardless of the consent of the governed. Jesus said "my kingdom is not of this world," (John 18:36) and his call to follow him was a call to voluntary conversion. Christ the King rules through the hearts of voluntary servants, not though the might of military strong men. The Kingdom Christ called for is social not socialist, "communitarian" not communist. Shared wealth programs actually do work, when the participants share their wealth voluntarily. Religious convents and monasteries are a perfect example of this in action. However, history has demonstrated that wherever government forced socialism is tried, it fails miserably, bankrupting the very government that tries to enact it and stunting the economy it must rape to sustain it. But history has demonstrated that this is a lesson that must be learned over and over again, and Venezuela will be no exception. The people of Venezuela will experience initial euphoria in their new socialist economy, as most socialist nations do. In time however, that euphoria will give way to economic stagnation. I say let them go ahead and learn their lesson the hard way. That seems to be the only way people learn it. In the mean time however, the United States would do well to wean itself from Venezuelan oil supply, and Catholics around the world would do well remembering the teaching of the Catechism:

2425 The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with "communism" or "socialism." She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of "capitalism," individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for "there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market." Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Isn’t it interesting how some liberal politicians want you to know they’re Catholic. Of course most of it is just political posturing, in an attempt to garner votes for the next election cycle, and most of them are just “Catholic In Name Only.” We saw this with Senator John Kerry during his presidential bid in 2004, and no doubt, we’ll see it again should he run in 2008. Now we have a new Speaker of the House -- Nancy Pelosi -- a San Francisco Liberal who is desperately trying to remake herself as the “Catholic mom” from Baltimore. Don’t you believe it! Actions speak louder than words. She can say she’s “Catholic” all she wants, but when it comes to her political track record, she’s nothing more than a Church-hating hypocrite.

The record indicates that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is an ardent opponent of human rights for the unborn. In May of 2005 she voted YES on allowing human embryonic stem cell research. In April of 2005 she voted NO on restricting interstate transport of minors to get abortions. In February of 2004 she voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. In October of 2003 she voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save the mother’s life. In February of 2003 she voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. In September of 2002 she voted NO on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion information. In May of 2001 she voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. In April of 2001 she voted NO on making it a federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. In April of 2000 she voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. And in June of 1999 she voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. Nancy Pelosi currently enjoys a 100% rating from NARAL, indicating a totally pro-abortion voting record. Any one of these votes constitutes a mortal sin according to the Catholic Church, and the US Council of Catholic Bishops has voted to bar all such politicians from the communion rail. According to the Vatican, and the US Council of Catholic Bishops, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not allowed to receive communion in the Catholic Church. Technically, this puts her just one step away from formal excommunication.

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: This is exactly what we need in every city across the United States. We need it desperately and frequently. Good God! Will any of our bishops respond to the call? Are there any shepherds left among us? Thank God for the few, but where are the rest? Readers of 'The Catholic Knight,' do whatever you can to get this message out. We need to take Christ into the streets again...

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: You can show your own support by adding your own signature to the declaration HERE.

DECLARATION SUPPORTING ANY PAPAL INITIATIVETO ALLOW THE FREER USE OF THE 1962 MISSALE ROMANUM

We, Catholic laity and clergy, predominantly of various English-speaking lands, express our hope and desire to see the form of liturgy used prior to and during the Second Vatican Council given, again, greater freedom of use in the life of the Catholic Church and we express our enthusiastic support for any papal initiative to the same end.

We join in spirit as well with those figures of yesteryear who, in 1971, successfully petitioned the Holy See for the continued use of the classical Roman liturgy, deemed by them and by us as a spiritual and cultural treasure of inestimable value. Today in a similar spirit of love for the Church and her rich liturgical tradition, we unite our own voices with those heard in the recent past: with those of Agatha Christie, Cyril Connolly, Kenneth Clark, Graham Greene, Cecil Day Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge and Iris Murdoch. Moreover, we join with the likes of such esteemed individuals as Evelyn Waugh in expressing our profound attachment to this liturgical treasure of Church.

As such, we wish to voice our support for the possible initiative of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, which is thought to allow for the wider usage of the classical Roman liturgy in the hope that:

1. Pastorally, the "rightful aspirations" (cf. Ecclesia Dei adflicta) of Catholics attached to the classical form of the Roman liturgy might be more freely and readily realized in the Latin rite;

2. The ancient liturgical usages of the West might be fostered as living forms of worship in the Church, enjoying full right of citizenship in the same – the classical Roman rite as well as the ancient liturgical rites and uses of the religious orders and primatial sees which formed a part of the living, organic and legitimate liturgical diversity of the Church until recent times.

Finally, we believe that the presence of the classical form of the Roman liturgy in broader ecclesial and parish life will positively contribute to the ongoing efforts to implement the liturgical reforms promulgated by the Second Vatican Council as delineated in Sacrosanctum Concilium, and as envisioned by the Fathers of the aforesaid Council.

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Have you noticed it? The mainstream media is finally (after six years) starting to identify the real enemy. Rather than referring to them simply as mere terrorists and extremists (both nonspecific terms), it would appear they've been taking a hint from conservative radio talk shows, and putting an "Islam" identifier in their news stories. Although the term 'Islamofacism' appears to be too harsh for media elitists to utter, they have made a subtle distinction between 'Islam' (the supposedly "peaceful" religion) and 'Islamist' (the warlike ideology of promoting Islam at all costs). Those who embrace this ideology are called 'Islamists,' as opposed to mere 'Muslims' who are simply peaceful practitioners of Islam. All together, the subtle distinction is discrete but nevertheless effective. I'm just glad the mainstream media is finally identifying who we're at war with. Nice of them to finally get on board -- too bad it took half a decade.

DEBKA: Our military sources report that the US Central Command has massed substantial naval, air and marine strength around Somali shores, led by The USS Eisenhower carrier which is patrolling the water between Ras Kamboni on the Somali-Kenyan border and Kismayo port. Kenyan units and the German navy are also deployed. Fighting in support of Somali government troops and Ethiopian forces, they are tightening the noose trapping the embattled al Qaeda and Islamic Courts fugitives in their last positions....

Monday, January 8, 2007

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It just doesn't get much better than this. Though the film is old, the message is eternal. Here we see the classical Roman Rite of the Church at it's finest, before it fell into obscurity after the Second Vatican Council. Here we hear one of the greatest Catholic personalities of the 20th century, narrate the mass, explaining along the way, giving us an educational insight into the tradition that makes us who we are...

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken by telephone to a number of French bishops to persuade them to accept a wider use of the Tridentine Mass, it has been claimed.

The Pontiff brought French bishops who oppose the Tridentine Mass “to a reluctant but decisive change of view”, according to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), an organisation of Old Rite priests that the Pope strongly supports.

It is widely expected that a papal document will soon be released to allow priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass – using the pre-Vatican II 1962 Latin Missal – without the explicit permission of the local bishop, though probably only in the low-key setting of a “private” celebration....

Saturday, January 6, 2007

It is my great joy to officially announce that the Archbishop of Saint Louis, His Grace Raymond L. Burke, will ordain two of our Deacons to the Holy Priesthood in the Cathedral of Saint Louis on the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Friday, June 15, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. This will be the first time that the priests of the Institute are ordained in the United States.

The Ordinations will take place in the presence of our Prior General, Monsignor Gilles Wach, and a large number of seminarians from Gricigliano, who will travel to the United States for this special occasion.

All are cordially invited to attend this joyous occasion of great solemnity.

Yours very truly in Christ the King,Msgr. R. Michael SchmitzVicar General in the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign PriestProvincial Superior for the Institute in the United States

LONDON – The Anglican Church is on the brink of separation over homosexuality, and the head of the worldwide denomination has admitted that he fears losing control of the situation.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says that he feared anything that set Christians more deeply at odds with each other.

"And because I am an ordinary, sinful human being, I fear the situation slipping out of my control, such as it is," he says in a documentary on Canterbury Cathedral to be broadcast on ITV - the most popular commercial television channel in Britain.

"I fear schism – not because I think it's the worst thing in the world but because, at this particular juncture, it's going to be bad for us. It's going to drive people into recrimination and bitterness."

In the documentary, the archbishop says: "We can't take it for granted that the Anglican Communion will go on as it always has been...

Friday, January 5, 2007

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: All right fellow Catholics; it's time we hold our political brethren accountable to the religion they claim to espouse. I'm asking all my readers to copy and circulate this list to every Catholic you know. Start writing your Catholic congressmen, and urge them to uphold the Church's teachings on the sanctity of human life and marriage. Let them know, if they betray the teachings of the Church, they will pay a political price. This is your chance. It's time to put the partisan politics aside. This isn't about Republican vs. Democrat anymore. This is about the CREDIBILITY of those who say they are Catholic. Every time they thumb their noses at the teachings of the Church, they drag our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary through the mud. They make us all look like a joke. This is your chance to hold their feet to the fire, and force them to uphold what they claim to believe...

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Will the mainstream media propaganda never cease!?! Of course not. That's why only a fool trusts the mainstream media. It appears the 'New York Times' has been caught in yet ANOTHER lie, and could care less. This one surrounds the paper's pro-abortion agenda...

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Approved society's, such as this one, truly are the last hope for Catholicism in America. As the liturgical tradition of the Church fades into the past, these societies (approved by the pope) are the LAST bastion of traditional Catholicism, and serve as our ONLY link to our historical roots. Thankfully, they are growing at an extremely fast rate, and thankfully, they enjoy the protection and favor of our current pope.

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (Latin: Institutum Christi Regis Summi Sacerdotis) is a society of priests in the Catholic Church that celebrates the liturgy in Latin exclusively in its traditional form according to the liturgical books promulgated before the reforms of 1965 and 1969, or what is commonly called the Tridentine Mass, according to the regulations of Pope John Paul II's motu proprio "Ecclesia Dei" of 1988. The Institute also preserves and patronizes traditional Latin Rite liturgical art and music and has undertaken the restoration and beautification of several churches. The Institute is a Society of Apostolic Life, whose rule of life is based generally on that of the secular canons. Father Michel Debourges (d. 2006), a member of the Institute, was one of the priests who offered the daily traditional Mass on the set during the filming of The Passion, directed by Mel Gibson. The Institute of Christ the King has as its stated aim the defense and propagation of the reign of Christ in all areas of human life, both private and social.

The Institute, founded in 1990, is based in Gricigliano, Italy, where the international seminary is located. The Institute's foundation was originally in Gabon, where the Institute still maintains several missions. Its founder is Monsignor Gilles Wach, STD, Superior General; co-founder is Father Philippe Mora, STD, Rector of the Seminary. Monsignor Wach and Father Mora received their priestly formation under the late Cardinal Siri (d. 1989) of Genoa.

The charism of the Institute is based on the example of its three patron saints: Saint Benedict, with his love for the solemn celebration of the liturgy, his emphasis on work and prayer, and his role in laying the groundwork for an integral Christian civilization in medieval Europe; Saint Thomas Aquinas, with his emphasis on the harmony between faith and reason; and, Saint Francis de Sales, with the importance he attached to teaching the Catholic faith with patience and charity, and to encouraging all Catholics to seek a life of holiness through the ordinary means of the Church, such as devout attendance at Mass and frequent confession.

The Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus Christ Sovereign Priest are a women's community (founded in 2004) associated with the Institute, and are also based in Gricigliano. The sisters are non-cloistered contemplatives, and their way of life is based on the Benedictine tradition. The community celebrates Mass and the Divine Office using the Traditional Latin Rite. When the number of sisters has increased sufficiently it is expected that convents will be located near the Institute's churches, where the sisters will perform apostolic work such as teaching.

In the United States, the Institute is located in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, and California, with national headquarters in Chicago. Its oldest American apostolate is St. Mary Oratory in Rockford, Illinois; Fr. Brian A.T. Bovee is the rector of the oratory. The Institute's most recent foundation in the United States is in Kansas City, where in 2005 Bishop Robert Finn has established an oratory, a public church where the Mass and other rites may be administered, for the Institute at an historic church otherwise in danger of being closed. Superior for the United States is Monsignor R. Michael Schmitz, who is also Vicar General of the Institute. The Institute applied to take over the redundant church of Ss Mary & Everilda, Everingham in the Diocese of Middlesbrough in England but this was refused by the bishop. In addition to its oratories in the United States and missions in Africa, the Institute also has apostolates in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Stop and consider the number for just a moment. What is 250 million? That's nearly the population of the entire United States of America! It's equivalent to one-fourth of the worldwide Catholic population, and one-eighth of the world's entire Christian population. In short, one in every eight Christians will suffer persecution this year. Something to think about...

By Daniel BlakeChristian Post Correspondent

LONDON – Around 250 million Christians worldwide will face persecution in 2007, simply for following Jesus Christ, according to persecution watchdog Release International. In particular the U.K.-based group found that persecution is growing the fastest in the Muslim world.

According to Release, most persecution takes place in four distinct “zones”: those of Islam, Communism, Hinduism and Buddhism. But persecution is growing fastest of all in the Muslim world.

Governments in even moderate Muslim countries often fail to safeguard the rights of their Christian minorities, explained RI. Abuses suffered by Christians include kidnapping, forced conversion, imprisonment, church destruction, torture, rape and execution.

One of the world’s worst abusers of religious freedom is Saudi Arabia, guardian of Islam’s holiest sites – Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia forbids all other religions. A Muslim found “guilty” of converting to Christianity could face the death sentence for apostasy. And anyone who leads a Muslim to Christ faces jail, expulsion or execution.

“There’s a conspiracy of silence around Saudi,” said Release International’s CEO Andy Dipper, “probably because the West wants their oil and their money. But this is a government that hands out the death sentence for its own citizens who want nothing more than the freedom to choose their own faith. And while Saudi bans all Christian literature, it spends billions of dollars each year propagating Islam around the world.”

But some of the most violent persecution in the Muslim world is beyond government control. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the world has been made dramatically aware of extremist Islamist global networks. Although the best known is Al Qaeda, there are others who exploit religious tensions for their own political ends, RI told U.K.-based Christian Today....read full story here

Mass. Citizens May Have Final Say on Homosexual MarriageBy Susan Jones

(CNSNews.com) - A state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman has cleared an important hurdle in Massachusetts -- the only state where same-sex marriage is legal.

On Tuesday, the final day of the state's 2006 constitutional convention, Massachusetts lawmakers approved the proposed amendment, moving it one step closer to a public vote.

The vote was 134 against the marriage amendment and 62 in favor. But it takes only 50 votes to move a citizen-initiated proposal forward.

To be included on the 2008 statewide ballot, the proposed constitutional amendment must also be approved by a second constitutional convention in 2007.

Until last week, people both for and against the proposed amendment thought it was dead.

But then, on Dec. 27, the highest court in Massachusetts ruled that state lawmakers had a constitutional duty to vote on proposed constitutional amendments rather than recessing without a vote, as they apparently planned to do.

That ruling gave supporters of traditional marriage the traction they needed to advance the marriage amendment.

Keep the people out of it

Homosexual advocacy groups are now lamenting what for them is a setback. They describe opposition to same-sex marriage as discriminatory and "anti-gay," and they do no want the people of Massachusetts to have a say on the issue...

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